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The Language of Freelance Marketing
by Mridu Khullar

Newbies usually enter the world of publishing with the notions of submitting articles, receiving prompt replies and getting published. After all, the next-door-neighbor did just that, and now she has a byline and everything. Maybe your neighbor’s lucky. Maybe she’s lying. In all probability, she’s established.

She probably spent the first few years of her career querying and getting rejected just like you. After countless rejections and what seemed like years of effort, editors started recognizing her name. Her constant queries made them think that she was in it for good, and she wouldn’t let them down if they trusted her with an assignment. They did, and she didn’t cave in. She excelled at what she did, because this was the big break she’d been waiting for. And once she was published, there was no looking back.

For freelancers, knowing the basic terminology before they begin can be a valuable lesson in earning a few extra dollars in that initial stage. When I started my freelancing career, I knew nothing of rights, simultaneous submissions, querying or varying payment rates. All I knew was -- I could write. Everything else, I learnt on the job. You will too. But just to make your stay a little less frustrating, and a lot more enjoyable, I’ve listed a few concepts that will help you immensely as you contact editors and try to make them pay you for your words.

Copyright
It’s yours as soon as you have those words on paper. You don’t have to register copyright to claim it, though if you’re writing a novel or book, it’s a wise investment. Registered copyright is proof enough for a court of law, and is extremely valuable in cases of dispute. However, for short materials like articles or essays, copyright needn’t be registered. You can however, club a number of essays and register them together.

Reprints
Reprints are articles, essays or pieces that have already been published. If you own the copyright (more on that later), and want to sell the piece again to another publication, it will be termed as a reprint. Most publications pay much less for reprints and some don’t accept them at all. However, for a freelancer, sometimes reprints bring more income than original articles do.

Rights
Earlier, magazines asked for all rights to articles. Even today, in many countries, including my own (India), most magazines want to keep all the rights ensuring that the articles in their magazine remain unique to them. However, this trend no longer exists in America, Canada and England, and is making headway into other nations as well. Now, almost all magazines in these nations refrain from asking for all rights to the work. Others have opened their doors for reprints, which is a boon for writers. Let’s look at some of the different kinds of rights.

All Rights
This means that the article must not have been published before, and cannot be used again after it has been published in this particular publication. Never give up all rights for a measly sum of money. If you’re selling all rights, make sure you’re being paid what you deserve.

First Serial Rights
These usually pertain to some country. For e.g., First North American Serial Rights, or First British Serial Rights. Although the article mustn’t have been published in the country prior to this, you are free to submit elsewhere after publication.

Electronic Rights As more and more publications archive their articles online, they are asking for electronic rights. This means that they can carry your article online. Usually a time-period is specified. Also, electronic rights are usually non-exclusive, meaning that you can sell this article elsewhere although it will continue to appear on this publication’s website.

CD-ROM Rights
A fairly new addition to the list of rights, this means that the publication is free to use your work on a Compact Disk.

Anthology Rights
Some publications publish yearly anthologies (collection of articles or stories). In such cases, they ask for these rights for possible inclusion of your work in their anthology.

First-time Rights
Your article must not have appeared anywhere worldwide. You are, however, free to sell your work elsewhere after publication.

One-time Rights
Your work may have appeared elsewhere. Publications asking for one-time rights require that you let them use your work once. It may or may not have been published before and you are free to use it after publication.

Copyright © 2003 Mridu Khullar

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